Content reproduction device and control method thereof

• US 8,060,912 B2
• Filed: 03/24/2006
• Issued: 11/15/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/22/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Sato, Koji
• Primary Examiner(s): Tieu; Benny
• Assistant Examiner(s): Payer; Paul F
• Application Number:
  US11/387,835
• Publication Number:
  US 20070250888A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,062 Days
• Field of Search: 725/134, 725/34, 725/32, 725/131, 725/105, 725/139, 725/135
• US Class Current: 725/134
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26258 for generating a list of items to be played back in a given order, e.g. playlist, or scheduling item distribution according to such list retrieval of multimedia data based on playlists G06F16/40
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/41407 embedded in a portable device, e.g. video client on a mobile phone, PDA, laptop constructional details of equipment or arrangements specially adapted for portable computer application G06F1/1626; arrangements specially adapted for mobile receivers in broadcast systems H04H20/57
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/458 Scheduling content for creating a personalised stream, e.g. by combining a locally stored advertisement with an incoming stream; Updating operations, e.g. for OS modules ; time-related management operations arrangements for replacing or switching information during the broadcast or during the distribution H04H20/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6543 for forcing some client operations, e.g. recording remote booting in general G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8352 involving content or source identification data, e.g. Unique Material Identifier [UMID]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/165 Centralised control of user terminal subsequent to an upstream request signal H04N7/17345; Registering at central by two-way working H04N7/17309

Abstract

A mobile phone, which is capable of reproducing a broadcast program supplied through a broadcast wave and stored programs stored in a program data storage, is provided with (i) a program ID extraction section that obtains a broadcast program ID for identifying a supplied broadcast program and a stored program ID for identifying a stored program, and (ii) a program reproduction control section that selects, as a reproduced program, at least one of a broadcast program and stored programs. On this account, a suitable program is selected and reproduced even if a broadcast program is broadcasted in a one-to-many manner. As a result, a suitable reproduced program is selected at suitable timing, in accordance with a supplied broadcast program and stored programs, and hence diversified needs of the users are satisfied.

Claims

1. A content reproduction device capable of reproducing (i) a broadcast promotion program supplied through a broadcast wave and (ii) one or more of a plurality of stored interrelated promotion programs that are interrelated by subject matter content and that are stored in a content storage,

the content reproduction device comprising:

broadcast program ID obtaining means for obtaining broadcast program ID used for identifying a supplied broadcast promotion program when the broadcast promotion program is supplied;

stored program ID obtaining means for obtaining stored program ID used for identifying the plurality of stored interrelated promotion programs stored in the content storage at a time when the broadcast promotion program is supplied;

a template storage that stores at least one template which includes a plurality of applicable rules that determine the one or more of the plurality of interrelated promotion programs stored in the content storage; and

reproduction control means that selects one or more of the plurality of interrelated promotion programs to be reproduced at a timing when the broadcast promotion program is supplied based on a combination of (a) the obtained broadcast program ID, (b) the obtained stored program ID, and (c) an applicable rule obtained from the template storage which is applicable under a predetermined reproduction condition, wherein;

when the plurality of reproduced promotion programs selected from (I) the broadcast promotion program and (II) said one or more of the plurality of stored interrelated promotion programs to be reproduced, the reproduction control means determines at which positions the plurality of reproduced promotion programs is to be reproduced, the reproduction control means determining the positions according to control information predetermined based on a set of program IDs of reproduced promotional programs.

2. The content reproduction device as defined in claim 1, wherein,

in the content storage, information indicating how many times the stored interrelated promotion program has been reproduced is stored in association with the stored program ID, and

the reproduction control means selects said one or more of the plurality of interrelated promotion programs, based on the information indicating how many times the stored interrelated promotion program has been reproduced.

3. The content reproduction device as defined in claim 1, wherein,

the reproduction control means selects a plurality of reproduced interrelated promotion programs, and determines (i) in what order the reproduced interrelated promotion programs are reproduced and (ii) at which positions of a display screen the reproduced interrelated promotion programs are displayed.

4. The content reproduction device as defined in claim 1, wherein,

the template includes timing information based on which a timing to replace a template that the reproduction control means refers is specified, and

based on the timing information, the reproduction control means replaces a template to be referred to.

5. The content reproduction device as defined in claim 4,

wherein,

the template describes, as the timing information, a rule based on the combination of the broadcast program ID and the stored program ID, and

the reproduction control means replaces a template to be referred to, in a case where the obtained broadcast program ID and the stored program ID satisfy the rule based on the combination.

6. The content reproduction device as defined in claim 4, further comprising:

template obtaining means for (i) obtaining, from an external device, a template to be newly referred to by the reproduction control means, in accordance with the timing information, and (ii) storing the obtained template in the template storage.

7. The content reproduction device as defined in claim 5, wherein:

the template storage stores at least one template which includes a plurality of reproduction condition rules that each establish a predetermined condition that must be met for the reproduction of the one or more of the plurality of stored interrelated promotion programs stored in the content storage to occur;

said applicable rule which is applicable under the predetermined reproduction condition is an applicable reproduction condition rule that establishes the predetermined condition that must be met for the reproduction, the applicable reproduction condition rule being obtained by referring to the at least one template; and

said at least one template further includes at least one template changing rule that establishes a predetermined change condition that must be met in order to replace the at least one template that the reproduction control means refers to with a different template in order to obtain one or more different reproduction condition rules.

8. The content reproduction device as defined in claim 1,

wherein,

when the content reproduction device received a predetermined control signal from an external device, the reproduction control means replaces a template to be referred to.

9. The content reproduction device as defined in claim 1, wherein

a content of the broadcast promotion program and a content of the stored interrelated promotion programs are sequentially interrelated, and the reproduction control means selects a succeeding reproduced promotion program to be reproduced, based on a response of a user after reproduction of a preceding reproduced promotion program.

10. The content reproduction device as defined in claim 1, wherein

the content reproduction device is a mobile phone.

12. The content reproduction device as defined in claim 1,

wherein when a plurality of reproduced promotion programs is to be reproduced, the reproduction control means determines in what order the plurality of reproduced promotion programs is to be reproduced, the reproduction control means determining the order according to control information predetermined based on a set of program IDs of the plurality of reproduced promotion programs.

11. A method of controlling a content reproduction device capable of reproducing (a) a broadcast promotion program supplied through a broadcast wave and (b) one or more of a plurality of stored interrelated promotion programs that are interrelated by subject matter content and that are stored in a content storage,

the method comprising:

the content reproduction device obtaining broadcast program ID used for identifying a supplied broadcast promotion program when the broadcast promotion program is supplied;

(ii) the content reproduction device obtaining stored program ID used for identifying the plurality of stored interrelated promotion programs stored in the content storage at a time when the broadcast promotion programs is supplied;

(iii) storing at least one template in template storage with each stored template including a plurality of applicable rules that determine the one or more of the plurality of interrelated promotion programs stored in the content storage; and

(iv) based on a combination of (a) the obtained broadcast program ID, (b) the obtained stored program ID, and (c) an applicable rule obtained from the template storage which is applicable under a predetermined reproduction condition the content reproduction device selecting one or more of the plurality of interrelated promotion programs to be reproduced at a timing when the broadcast promotion program is supplied,

wherein in step (iv), when a plurality of reproduced promotion programs selected from (I) the broadcast promotion program and (II) said plurality of stored interrelated promotion programs to be reproduced, the content reproduction device determines at which positions the plurality of reproduced promotion programs is to be reproduced, the content reproduction device determining the positions according to control information predetermined based on a set of program IDs of the plurality of reproduced promotional programs.

13. The method of controlling the content reproduction device as defined in claim 11, wherein

the content reproduction device is a mobile phone.

14. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a control program which causes a content reproduction device to reproduce (a) a broadcast promotion program, supplied through a broadcast wave and (b) one or more of a plurality of stored interrelated promotion programs that are interrelated by subject matter content and that are stored in a content storage,

the control program causing a computer to execute the steps of:

(i) obtaining broadcast program ID used for identifying a supplied broadcast promotion program when the broadcast promotion program is supplied;

(ii) obtaining stored program ID used for identifying the plurality of stored interrelated promotion programs stored in the content storage at a time when the broadcast promotion program is supplied;

(iii) storing at least one template in template storage with each stored template including a plurality of applicable rules that determine the one or more of the plurality of interrelated promotion programs stored in the content storage; and

(iv) based on a combination of (a) the obtained broadcast program ID, the obtained stored program ID, and applicable rule obtained from the template storage which is applicable under a predetermined reproduction condition, selecting, one or more of the plurality of interrelated promotion programs to be reproduced at a timing when the broadcast promotion program is supplied,

wherein in step (iv), when a plurality of reproduced promotion programs selected from (I) the broadcast promotion program and (II) said plurality of stored interrelated promotion programs to be reproduced, the computer determines at which positions the plurality of reproduced promotion programs is to be reproduced, the computer determining the positions according to control information predetermined based on a set of program IDs of the plurality of reproduced promotional programs.